Goddess of Light

Chapter 40 ~ Safe

The door shut behind Steve, so the room was closed off from the world. For a moment it was our own little sanctuary from the whirlwind storm outside. I have no idea what all of that meant, if you couldn't tell. 

The main thing I did learn was the Asgard and the Nine Realms are in some sort of trouble, but Father would have alerted us in some way. Anyways, Midgard was part of the Nine Realms and was certainly in trouble now. 

I also felt that, in some weird way, I had closure over my mother's death. The blood finally washed away. I felt clean. 

But the most important part was that Steve didn't leave me.

I slid down onto the floor, Steve following me down. He leant back against the wall, and I climbed on top of him, he pulled me up onto his chest. I didn't want him to stop holding me and I think he needed that too, for some reason. I think Wanda had got to him, as well. We remained in each other's arms until Clint rounded us up, while supporting Nat.

We dredged our way off the boat and back to the Quinjet, leaning on each other. I found it impossibly hard to look at Nat. All my mind would let me see, was her hanging from my hand and it cursed me. Tony already looked pretty beaten up while he explained to us what had happened with Bruce and how they had destroyed part of the city, but all I could see was his sunken and hollow face. 

Nat still seemed pretty traumatised by what Wanda must have put in her head. She was sat in the darkness just staring ahead of her. Thor was acting incredibly shifty and anxious, and he wasn't speaking to anyone else. Bruce was having a rather savage come down after A) being the Hulk and B) having Wanda mess up his head. He was curled up in a blanket on the floor, breathing shakily. Steve and I were the only other ones that Wanda had got to, but I think we had it best. 

Sure, we were definitely effected, but we were also the only ones consciously responding to Tony and Clint. After they briefed us fully on what we had missed (I wasn't properly listening but got the jist of it) we slumped down into our seats, separate from the others. I think we all needed time to ourselves. 

I rested my head on Steve's shoulder and he gently slotted his head on top of mine. A perfect fit. Normally, this is the downtime after a mission when I would have a nap, but I was anything but tired. I was pretty hungry, but not tired. 

After about an hour of being in the air, Steve had nodded off beside me. He looked so peaceful, and I didn't want to wake him but I needed to stretch my legs. I couldn't no longer feel my legs. 

I slipped my head from under his and slid out of my chair and stood up. He didn't wake, thank Odin. I walked towards the front of the ship where Tony was on a FaceTime call to Maria Hill and Dominic. 

"The news is loving you guys. Nobody else is. There's been no official call for Banner's arrest, but it's in the air." She informed us as I leant on the back of Tony's chair. I didn't know if they could see me from the tower, I really hoped they couldn't I thought, remembering the note Dominic left in my room. 

"The Stark Relief Foundation?" Tony inquired, rubbing his finger on his eyebrow. 

"Already on the scene. How's the team?" She asked. Tony spun around to look at me and then to the others dotted around the ship.

He then looked back to me, and I shrugged a little. "Everyone's... We took a hit. We'll shake it off." He finally answered. 

I looked at the screen and saw Dominic shifting around like he was trying to get a better look at something. Oh, God. Could he see me? I cringed and retracted out of view, causing Tony to look at me weirdly. "Well, for now, I'd stay in stealth mode and stay away from here." Maria advised and she nudged Dominic to sit still.